Son Heung-min, other players greeted by encouraging fans in return from World Cup

Son Heung-min, center, captain of the South Korean men's national football team, walks toward the exit at Incheon International Airport, west of Seoul, Wednesday, after arriving back from the FIFA World Cup. Yonhap

INCHEON — Captain Son Heung-min led a small group of men's national football team players in their return home from the FIFA World Cup early Wednesday, as they were greeted with encouraging words from dozens of supporters.

Fans' reaction to the players at Incheon International Airport, west of Seoul, was in stark contrast to boos and profanity that targeted former head coach Hong Myung-bo the previous day.

Hong had resigned from the post Sunday morning in the team's base camp in Zapopan, western Mexico, after failing to take South Korea out of the group stage. South Korea finished third in Group A with three points from a win and two losses. They still had hopes of sneaking into the knockout round as one of the eight best third-place teams but ended up 10th in the rankings of those nations.

The government plans to launch an audit into operations at the Korea Football Association (KFA) to determine where it went all wrong for the national team program and revisit what many critics say was an opaque process to appoint Hong for the second time in July 2024. Hong's detractors have claimed the Taegeuk Warriors were doomed to fail under a coach who had also not been able to guide South Korea past the group stage at the 2014 World Cup.

Son and his teammates, for the most part, have not been subject to as much scrutiny.

According to the KFA, the players and the coaching staff traveled home in small groups due to difficulties booking flights home. Hong came home Tuesday with nine players, including Paris Saint-Germain midfielder Lee Kang-in and Bayern Munich defender Kim Min-jae. Son landed at the airport with a few others around 4 a.m. Wednesday.

As they walked through the gate, fans decked out in uniforms of their favorite players shouted out, "Don't hang your head" and "Thank you for your hard work."

Son did not answer questions from media. He took to social media the previous day to apologize to fans and pledged to come back stronger so that he and the national team can bring joy back to their supporters.

This was Son's fourth and possibly the last World Cup, though Son, who turns 34 next Wednesday, has not made his future plans clear.